Beavers Head To Omaha After Defeating Trojans, 10-8
June 13, 2005 | Baseball
June 13, 2005
Beavers Baseball Tournament Central
CORVALLIS, Ore. - On Monday afternoon, Oregon State went cycling all the way to Omaha.
Andy Jenkins hit for the cycle, going 5-for-5 as the No. 2 Beavers (46-10 overall) beat No. 18 Southern California 10-8 in the deciding game of the best-of-three Super Regional series at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field. After losing a five-run lead Sunday night - including a three-run lead going into the bottom of the ninth inning - and losing in 10 innings, the Beavers held off the Trojans to reach the College World Series for the first time since 1952.
"There's nothing like this," Jenkins said. "This whole series has been a roller coaster. As coach (Pat Casey) said, `We're going to find out what we're made of today.' We came out and performed today; now we're going to go to Omaha and represent the Pac-10."
Said Casey: "I feel blessed, humbled, thankful - I guess it's a coaches dream. To have so many people here to witness that and to see those guys hold up that sign (from OSU's locker room) that says `The Road To Omaha Starts Here' ... it's awesome for me."
OSU also saw outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury break the school record for hits in a career, going 3-for-5 with a double to give him 234 hits, breaking the record of 232 set by Andy Jarvis from 2000-03.
The Beavers will face top-ranked Tulane on Saturday at 11 a.m. PDT; the game will be televised on ESPN and broadcast on KEJO-AM (1240) in the mid-Willamette Valley and KUIK-AM (1360) in the Portland area.
Oregon State is the first Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington and Idaho) to reach the College World Series since Washington State in 1976, and the Beavers did it with a roster primarily of Oregonians.
"It's something you think about all the time," OSU shortstop Darwin Barney said. "I knew we had the talent and that's one of the reasons that all of us came here, because of the talent that's Oregon-based. It means something playing for your city and your state.
"Us playing together as Oregonians, it means a lot."
A crowd of 2,752 was a sellout but just under capacity after the start of the game was moved up Sunday night three hours for television. They chanted "Omaha! Omaha!" as Jenkins fielded a grounder to first and raced to the bag for the final out, then hurled the ball into the outfield just as he was engulfed by his teammates.
Billy Hart's bases-loaded single in the 10th inning scored the winning run and Southern California rallied from a 8-3 deficit to beat Oregon State 9-8 Sunday night and force Monday's winner-take-all game.
"This game was probably the most pressure as a team we felt all year," OSU leftfielder Tyler Graham said. "But it seemed like nobody really worried about that and we did go out loose. We started off the first inning with a couple of runs and I think that loosened everybody up."
The Trojans (41-22) rallied again in the deciding game, erasing a 7-3 deficit with a four-run sixth inning. The Beavers, though, answered immediately.
Jenkins started the bottom of the inning with a drive to right-center that USC centerfielder Zack Kalter dove for and missed, giving Jenkins a triple and the cycle. He scored on Shea McFeely's sacrifice fly to make it 8-7.
"I've never had a cycle," Jenkins said. "I think I picked a good day to do that."
Jenkins was the first Beaver to do so since A.J. Marquardt on March 28, 1993 against Southwest Missouri State in a 17-3 win in Norman, Okla. Jenkins' five hits tied OSU's school record for hits in a game, a mark shared by many players and most recently accomplished by Mike Hass in an 8-3 win over Arkansas-Little Rock on Feb. 21, 2004 in Arlington, Tex.
Jenkins' five-hit game was the second by a Beaver in the postseason, and both came in games that clinched Oregon State trips to the College World Series. Jay Dean - like Jenkins, a first baseman - went 5-for-5 with a double as the Beavers beat Fresno State 8-4 to wrap up the Far West Regional title on June 7, 1952 at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field.
Barney had an RBI single in the seventh inning, then scored on Jenkins' second single of the game to make it 10-7. USC's Matt Cusick added a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
The Beavers went ahead in the first inning with Jenkins' two-run double off Trojan starter Brett Bannister. Tyler Graham added an RBI single in the second. USC catcher Jeff Clement hit a three-run home run to tie it at 3-all in the third inning.
Jenkins put OSU back in front with a home run, a solo shot, in the bottom half before Mitch Canham scored on Bannister's error fielding Cole Gillespie's bunt. Ellsbury and Graham each added RBI singles in the fifth inning to extend Oregon State's lead to 7-3.
With the bases loaded and no outs in the sixth, Oregon reliever Nate Fogle hit Roberto Lopez with a pitch, scoring Hart, before Hector Estrella hit an RBI single and Zach Kalter added a sacrifice fly as the Trojans narrowed it to 7-6.
Then reliever Eddie Kunz walked Cusick with the bases loaded and just one out to tie it. Kunz struck out Clement and Hart flied out to end it.
After the Beavers rebuilt their lead to 10-7, USC threatened again in the bop of the eighth as it used a single, a walk, a wild pitch and a passed ball to put runners at second and third with none out. Kevin Gunderson - who took the loss in Sunday night's game - then came on and got a sacrifice fly by Matt Cusick and got Clement to ground out for the second out.
OSU then turned to Dallas Buck, who had pitched 7 2/3 innings to win Friday night's game, and Buck got Hart to fly out to right-center to end the inning. Buck then retired the Trojans one-two-three on seven pitches in the ninth, and the Beavers were headed for Omaha.
"Obviously, we weren't planning on using Dallas Buck today, but when it got to the point he's got his uniform on, his hat on, he's warming up in the bullpen, it's pretty hard to shut him down," Casey said. "I thought it was big for Kevin Gunderson to come back in and do something like that. He was sore, but he wanted to pitch. I thought it was important for him to get out there and regain his confidence."
Kunz allowed one run on two hits for the victory and Buck earned the save. USC's Ryan Schlack got the loss.
"I get to work with a tremendous coaching staff and players," Casey said. "I know that all sounds like cliché, but it's true. We got here in September sometime and have been working ever since. I'm extremely proud of our guys."
At least four members of Oregon State's 1952 College World Series team were at Monday's game - pitchers Bailey Brem and Norb Wellman, infielder Bobby Buob and outfielder Dwane Helbig. Also on hand was Paul Valenti, an assistant coach on the 1952 team who is still an administrator in the Oregon State athletic department. That 1952 team also defeated USC in Corvallis in the conference championship series en route to the College World Series.
Southern California 8 (41-22) Oregon State 10 (46-10)Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI --------------------------------------- --------------------------------------- Blake Sharpe ss............ 2 1 0 0 Jacoby Ellsbury cf......... 5 2 3 1 Matt Cusick 1b............. 2 0 1 2 Tyler Graham lf............ 5 0 3 2 Jeff Clement c............. 5 1 1 3 Darwin Barney ss........... 4 2 1 1 Billy Hart 3b.............. 5 1 1 0 Andy Jenkins 1b............ 5 2 5 4 Cyle Hankerd rf............ 3 1 0 0 Mitch Canham c............. 5 1 1 0 Darin Vieira ph........... 1 0 0 0 Shea McFeely 3b............ 3 0 0 1 Baron Frost dh............. 3 1 1 0 Cole Gillespie rf.......... 3 1 2 0 Roberto Lopez lf........... 2 1 0 1 Danny Anderson rf......... 0 0 0 0 Lucas Duda ph............. 1 0 0 0 Mike Lissman dh............ 2 0 0 0 Hector Estrella 2b......... 4 0 1 1 Chris Campos ph/dh........ 3 1 2 0 Zack Kalter cf............. 2 2 1 1 Ryan Gipson 2b............. 3 1 0 0 Brett Bannister p.......... 0 0 0 0 Chris Kunda 2b............ 1 0 0 0 Steve Martlaro p.......... 0 0 0 0 Anton Maxwell p............ 0 0 0 0 Michael Friedman p........ 0 0 0 0 Nate Fogle p.............. 0 0 0 0 Ryan Schlack p............ 0 0 0 0 Eddie Kunz p.............. 0 0 0 0 Jack Spradlin p........... 0 0 0 0 Kevin Gunderson p......... 0 0 0 0 Richard Aguilar p......... 0 0 0 0 Dallas Buck p............. 0 0 0 0 Paul Koss p............... 0 0 0 0 Totals..................... 30 8 6 8 Totals..................... 39 10 17 9
Score by Innings R H E ------------------------------------------- Southern California. 003 004 010 - 8 6 1 Oregon State........ 212 021 20X - 10 17 0 -------------------------------------------
E - Bannister. DP - So. Calif. 1; Oregon St. 1. LOB - So. Calif. 8; Oregon St. 12. 2B - Hart; Ellsbury; Jenkins; Gillespie. 3B - Jenkins. HR - Clement; Jenkins. HBP - Frost; Lopez; Gillespie. SH - Gillespie. SF - Cusick; Kalter; McFeely. SB - Ellsbury 2; Graham.
Southern California IP H R ER BB SO ------------------------------------------------ Brett Bannister ........... 3.2 7 5 4 3 1 Steve Martlaro ............ 1.0 1 2 2 1 0 Michael Friedman .......... 0.1 2 0 0 0 0 Ryan Schlack L,0-2........ 1.1 2 1 1 0 1 Jack Spradlin ............. 0.1 2 2 2 0 1 Richard Aguilar ........... 0.1 1 0 0 0 0 Paul Koss ................. 1.0 2 0 0 0 0
Oregon State IP H R ER BB SO ------------------------------------------------ Anton Maxwell ............. 5.0 3 5 5 6 0 Nate Fogle ................ 0.0 1 2 2 0 0 Eddie Kunz W,2-0.......... 2.0 2 1 1 3 2 Kevin Gunderson ........... 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 Dallas Buck S,1........... 1.1 0 0 0 0 0
WP - Martlaro; Kunz; Gunderson. HBP - by Bannister (Gillespie); by Fogle (Frost); by Fogle (Lopez). BK - Aguilar. PB - Canham 2.
Umpires - HP: Scott Graham 1B: Tony Maners 2B: A.J. Lostaglio 3B: Scott Erby Start: 1:07 PM Time: 4:00 Attendance: 2752
Maxwell faced 2 batters in the 6th. Fogle faced 3 batters in the 6th. Kunz faced 2 batters in the 8th.
